3M Corp. of St. Paul, Minn., announced Thursday it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire IMTEC Corp. IMTEC is the dental implant and computer tomography company with which the Los Alamos engineering company HYTEC recently merged.

The 3M announcement said the acquisition would give the company access to two of the fastest growing segments in the dental industry. 3M is one of the largest dental suppliers.

IMTEC employs approximately 230 people located at its operations in Ardmore, Okla.; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Boulder, Colo. In a report earlier this year, the company said there were 50 employees in Los Alamos. The company is located on Eastgate Drive and has a new facility under construction on a land transfer parcel off N.M. 502, north of de Colores restaurant.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.

IMTEC’s ILUMA system, based on Cone Beam Computed Tomography is an industry leader for applications in dentistry and medicine, one of many business lines originated with HYTEC, one of Los Alamos most successful independent technology ventures.

HYTEC, founded by Tim Thomson and Bill Miller, merged with IMTEC in February 2007, creating a global corporation with $50 million in annual revenues.